Interview
Jaime Subira
I find it quite hard to believe just how long ago the year 1978 was, and just how fast that time has gone. I was just as passionate about trials as I am now and the fact that it was the first year of the Barcelona indoor trial appears to be light years away. About five years ago I was in Barcelona on business with my good friend Angel Magrinya from Delay Trial, and he said we could go and meet Jaime Subira. My thoughts were: “Now there’s a blast from the past!”.
When we first met, he was very warm and welcoming, and he had just won the 1978 Barcelona indoor event. Over the next few years, I would see more and more of him, especially at the Costa Brava Two Day Trial. When our good friends at the best trials website in the world: www.todotrial. com interviewed Jaime, I asked if we could print it in the Classic Trial Magazine, to which they excitedly agreed. The emergence of the trial as a sport in Spain would not be understood today without the huge and outstanding contribution made by the former for Montesa and Fantic rider in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
The year 2018 marked four decades since the birth of the indoor trial as a speciality sport. In Martorelles, a town near the Ciudad Condal, we went to talk not only with its first winner but with one of the few men who can boast having participated in the development of two of the most iconic and influential motorcycles of our sport, the Montesa Cota 348 and the Fantic 240.
Forty years have passed since your victory in the first SoloMoto Indoor Trial in Barcelona. What do you remember of that first event? Forty years ago, wow! [He smiles]. What I can tell you is that it was a great novelty and a surprise for everyone. It was held at the Palau d’Esports on the Lleida Street in Barcelona, and it was not small — no, it was very small! There were people everywhere, on the stairs, in the corridors, etc.
My memories of that day are still very clear; I was focused on the hazards and my attempts at them, but something very curious happened. People whistled when I completed each hazard and rode to the next one and, of course, as you can imagine, I did not understand it. Why were they doing it, I asked myself? Well, it turns out that it was the same people who were following me from hazard to hazard. Those who were sat the furthest away could not see the action and that was why they were whistling. I did not realise it until I finished.
While it was held in the Palau d’Esports on Lleida Street, for me, it was more intimate with people very close to us and to the action, almost touching us but when it moved to the Palau Sant Jordi in Montjuic, I think it went from being a big event to a huge event; of course, it had good and bad things. The good thing was more people, a better location — but on the other hand, it lost a bit of the atmosphere from the early events. You took the win in front of Yrjo Vesterinen and Quicko Paya, was this the most important win of your career? I think it was one of the most important, but there have been other moments. When I started riding in the Junior class there was an older rider who kept beating me. I would lose 50 marks and he would lose just five. One day I did beat him; I was so proud.
I can remember the first time I beat Bultaco rider Manuel Soler in a Spanish Championship round in Alicante in 1977. My two second places in the FIM World Championship; first in Sant Llorenc, Spain on the Montesa Cota 349 and then on the little Fantic 200 in Pilsen in Czechoslovakia. I was also the first Spanish rider to finish in the top five at the Scottish Six Days Trial in 1980 on the Fantic 200 and then fourth on the 240 model in 1981. Such was the opposition, with so many top riders in the event, it felt very much like a victory at the time. The hazards of the first Indoor in Barcelona were the work of Joan Bordas, an expert in gardening and motorcycling and Pere Pi, the first Spanish Trials Champion. How did they surprise you? I was surprised how much the tyre section moved when you rode it. It was a selection of tyres from cars and motorcycles, and I remember that it changed continuously with the passage of every rider. The other hazards were made to look as natural as possible using tree trunks and railway sleepers. They were very nicely decorated, which was very novel. The favourite spectator hazards remained the same for many years, which was your favourite hazard? Riding over tyres was always very different and not many clean rides were recorded. As for the Pyramid, at first it remained impossible but I remember trying it in third gear and, after breaking the wood of the ramp, I ended up embedded inside the Pyramid! As a result, we had to reinforce it to prevent anyone else from getting hurt.
Winning on the Montesa was a major victory in Spain. Since 1978 the brand has won the most indoor events and carries so much respect in trials. What were the times like at Montesa in the ’70s? Montesa was always a very serious company, but with respect to Bultaco for example, I think that Montesa were maybe more dedicated to the commercial side of the business than to competition which was something completely opposite to Bultaco. In addition, Montesa focussed on the aesthetics, making their motorcycles very attractive. Without going any further a very important novelty at the time was the seat-tank unit of the Cota 348, which allowed access without having to unscrew anything; you were able to lift it like the bonnet of a car for easy engine access and maintenance.
Montesa, as a motorcycle, was so different from Bultaco or the Ossa at the time as the Cota range was so much lighter, moreso at the front, and I think that was what gave the rider the most advantage in the hazards at the indoors. Your first trials motorcycle was a Montesa Cota 247 which you purchased when you were just 17. Why Montesa? The Cota 247 was very pretty. I knew Jordi Rabasa, who rode for Montesa, and Josep Isern from Motos Isern — the shop where I purchased my first motorcycles. He allowed me to take a Montesa to test and was always giving me good advice. I suppose that it was also influenced by the fact that my town Martorelles was in Montesa territory. Trials or motocross? At first I was more interested in motocross. However, I soon realised that I could ride my trials machine any time I wanted and practising was so much easier. I remember that my first contract with Montesa was to ride trials in winter and motocross in summer. I never got to compete in motocross because after starting with trials and doing well they left me there.
Why motorcycles? As a young man, I enjoyed the thrill of riding the motorcycle. Since the age of 14, I tuned every motorcycle I ever had. For example with the Montesa Brio 81 model, I removed the mudguards, fitted higher handlebars and was soon jumping drainage ditches, etc. These were fantastic times. Winning on a Montesa opened the door to a Montesa factory contract. The contract came through my association with Isern Motorcycles. Josep Isern was the one who first told me that Montesa had noticed me. In fact, I signed as a rider and a mechanic for another Spanish rider, Quico Paya. The idea was for me to have my own machine but to train with him and learn from him. You were an official factory supported rider with Montesa from 1974– 1979 where you gained some very good results. Were you satisfied with your achievements? [He smiles] Of course I was. I remember the first trial I rode in with Pere Pi and Ignacio Bulto in Zaragoza, which I won. The final hazard was riding over a car — the very first time I had attempted this and I cleaned it and won. Happy days. Did you have a favourite rider at the time? In Montesa, it was Jordi Rabasa. I also liked Joan Bordas. Then came along two great riders; Ulf Karlson from Sweden, and Malcolm Rathmell from Great Britain. Being able to train and take advice from them as well as retain my relationship with Quico Paya helped me a lot to raise my level of riding. In 1980 Fantic gave you a contract. Why the move from Montesa to Fantic? I was not very happy with the Montesa as it did not suit me and my riding, so I made contact with Bultaco, Italjet and then Fantic, which is where my decision took me. The brothers Toni and Estanis Soler had a company, Como International, through which they imported Fantic into Spain. It was through them that I made contact with Fantic.
I travelled to Italy to test the new Fantic and what impressed me the most was the performance from the engine. The quality of the components was very high, but I did not like the suspension at all. Part of the conditions with the contract was that Fantic would control the engine and I could not tune it. I was happy with this as long as I could work with the suspension and modify the rest of the machine as I chose. In truth, they were quite surprised at how much I praised the engine. As the engine capacity was only 156.9cc, they also were not clear what options they had in the World Championship with such a small motorcycle, but I decided to sign the three-part contract: Rider, Factory and Importer.
The press were told, with my consent, that I was only a rider for the Spanish importer the Soler brothers. When the first results arrived in Italy, they changed their strategy, and they presented me as an official factory rider. So you became their rider and main development man working on the trials project. What suggestions of yours came out firstly with the 200 model and then the 240 model? As I mentioned before, I did not like the suspension on the 200. I proposed that we used the Betor brand as used by Bultaco and also modify the geometry of the rear suspension. The latter was essential because, due to the displacement of just 156.9cc, it needed to go faster than the larger capacity machines. I needed to have a very well-tuned suspension otherwise the Fantic was impossible to ride. We also modified the chassis in some other areas but basically the machine was very standard.
With the 240 model, we carried over the experience and learning from the 200 model in pretty much the same way. I was involved with the 240 model from day one which allowed me to develop it very much to my liking. I remember we spent two years working with Marzocchi suspension and they still did not arrive with the settings where we wanted them. So much so that the technicians of Marzzochi even insinuated to my bosses at Fantic that I received money from Betor and that the Marzzochi would never work well for me. Then they set a trap for me. They made a Marzzochi damper with the base of a Betor. The surprise for them was that when I tried it, I told them that it was much better than the Betor since
the Marzzochi was at the higher level of machining and materials, such as seals, and, as such, was well above the standard of Betor!
With the Fantic 240, one area of focus was the grip, and we soon achieved this after much hard work. It was one of the key points of the machine which made it so successful.
In my first year at the Scottish Six Days Trial with Fantic there were about 10 to 15 of the red machines, but when the 240 model came out, I think that in its second year there were 80 and the next year, more than half — about 140 riders on the Fantics! Personally, I believe that the 240 has been one of the most successful models in the history of trials. This model witnessed record sales, as well as the Montesa Cota 348 in which I also participated in the development of. I am very proud to have played such an important part in both these iconic machines. Gilles Burgat, Steve Saunders and, above all, Thierry Michaud owe much of their success in those years with the Italian brand from your good work at Fantic. Did all three ask for your help? Burgat used the 240, but he was not very demanding. He focused a lot on the competitions, and if he found one Fantic he liked he would keep it for a while, but in general, he was quite confident in my good work. He was never a problem.
When Michaud came to Fantic, I was already in the final stages of my career as a Fantic rider. He won his first world title on the 300 model that I had developed. He soon took the reins to develop his ideas and make the Fantic suit his riding style.
When Saunders arrived, I was already importing the Fantic brand in Spain. Every time I travelled to Italy though the riders let me test their machines for my opinion, which was nice. You had some good results with the Fantic in the latter part of your career? Yes, I finished much better than what the pundits of the time expected me to achieve having signed for Fantic, although I admit that it was risky to go from a 350cc Cota 349 to a Fantic 200 model with
a 156.9cc engine. In fact, I think I even improved in some areas than when I was competing with Montesa. The fourth place in the SSDT and my ninth place in the FIM World Championship answered the questions. In 1984 you decided to end your competition career. Why? There is a suitable age for each time of your life, and I considered that my years as a competitive world championship rider had already come to an end when I turned 30 years old. In addition to this, I was also very excited to start my own business.
A new Spanish talent Jordi Tarres had arrived and, yes, I could compete with him, but I knew a great change in the sport was coming. Tarres with his riding and presentation would change the face of the sport forever, and therefore I considered it a good time to leave. I also had the option to become the Fantic Team Manager at the end of the same year, but returning from an event in Germany an incident on a highway with a truck and car coming in the opposite direction changed my priorities since I was travelling with my wife and young son. Nothing happened to us, but it made me see that maybe it was better to start my own business than to travel with them around the world. Your ties with Fantic remained from that moment as the Spanish distributor. Did you find it easy to change jobs? I had always had the idea of having my own business, and I was very excited to start this new stage in my life. But starting from scratch is anything but easy. A few years after starting as a distributor your good friend Angel Magrinya from Delay Trial joined you. How did you entice him to work with you? Angel is an excellent communicator and commercial person, and for me, his collaboration in this era was very helpful. He attended the events that we organised, and besides that, we had known each other for a lifetime. It was easy to understand since we both had the same goal, and one passion: Trials! But in 1997 Fantic announced that it would close. How did you find out? I happened to be at Fantic. The boss’s secretary told me. They had treated me like a son; I moved around with total freedom in the company and got along with everyone; workers and the management. They understood that they gave me money and I made them motorcycles, it was as simple as that. I tried to contribute everything that was in my hands and to be consistent with everything I had received from them until that moment.
It was a hard time for me because the Fantic closure coincided with a fire in the Yamaha factory which also affected my business. I had a difficult time.
At first, you inherited all the spare parts from Fantic but soon after, why did you transfer it to Angel Magrinya? I had a Yamaha dealership, so I decided to focus on this. As for Angel, I had confidence in him and our good friendship; I decided to transfer everything to him. Among all that he inherited was also the Fantic Casta, the last prototype, manufactured in 1997 and which had been going to be put into production and sold from 1998. Do you think that if it had been produced and sold this model would have changed the fate of the brand? The latest Fantic models did not reach the required production numbers to survive. But what I think hurt them the most was that they imported motorcycles, mopeds and scooters from China and sold them in Italy branded with the name Fantic. They lacked the passion and quality expected of the brand, and the trials models had fallen out of fashion. In these years you collaborated in Spain with the Moto Club Gava and the Zona Zero and KM2 stores to give life to the Open Trial de Catalunya. How did the idea of this social championship come about? Actually, they collaborated with me [Jaime bursts out laughing]. It was an idea of the Moto Club Cent Peus of the time, and it was a great success. We organised a trial for everyone with many categories, and everyone could choose their category. When the first restrictive measures of access to the environment began to come from the Government of Catalonia, we thought that the only way we had to counteract the impact of these was to make very important events with a lot of participation to try to save the market.
We, at MC Cent Peus, met with KM2 and Zona Cero to organise events with a lot of riders. The factories turned to our proposal. So much so that we managed to get up to five machines from the different manufacturers to distribute between the participants in the championship. I assure you that this had never happened before, nor do I think it will happen again! [More laughter from Jaime].
Why do you think you had such success at the time? We were ahead of the way of seeing things by most people at that time. What we did was to give the maximum facilities, both in the signing on and in the start times of the riders. Also, for the categories, we established three levels of difficulty, each one with a different colour. And each category also went by ages: up to 35 years, from 35 to 45, from 45 to 55, from 55 to 65, and over 65. I think the latter was one of the factors that determined its success because everyone competed with those of their similar level of ability and age. Do you think it would be possible to imitate this formula today? Today it would be very successful if implemented in the classic trials. In 2011 we would witness your return to competition, but now as Director to replace Marc Colomer of Ossa’s racing team. How did they convince you? When passion runs through your veins, it’s easy to convince you. At that time it still did, and I loved it. Jeroni Fajardo was the rider and Dani Oliveras, the chief mechanic. What went wrong with the Ossa TR 280i? Was it too innovative? Look, I came to Ossa through my friendship with Joan Roma. In my opinion with Ossa, it was a very impulsive project with very little research, and there was not a sufficiently strong and passionate group to carry out the project. The OssaTR 280i was a very daring project. Unfortunately, it did not give the results it promised, in part due to the lack of experience and the exaggerated optimism that moved around the project. Unfortunately the resurgence of Ossa did not materialise and, in the end, it was absorbed by Gas Gas. Was it the best possible solution? It was an extreme solution that did not lead anywhere. In the trials world, is everything already invented? In my opinion, the trials world as a manufacturer is very difficult because the units that are made are very few and the costs involved in the competition, research, etc. are very high. What proves this point is the fact that the majority of the machines produced still have a carburettor, which is something that is practically underestimated for the rest of the motorcycle. I believe that this is because trials do not allow a budget generous enough to carry out the development of new lines of research or projects such as fuel injection.
I think that today manufacturers, in general, are wrong with regard to the product they sell to their customers. Motorcycles, in my opinion, are more demanding than most of the users who use them. I’ll explain; the manufacturers would have to reflect and study why in the classic competitions the yellow category has between 60 & 70% of the registered entries. You have to cater for the masses. In more recent times you have put your time into Subira Classic Motorcycles. What is it and how was it born? Subira Classic was born by accident. Four years ago they called me from MC Sotobike in Spain because the last date of the National of Classics events had been celebrated and the winner was given a Fantic 200. They asked me if I could help to prepare it and gave it to me, and that is how it all began.
My good friend, Julian Sanz, had prepared me for the trap. He proposed that we each competed, him with his machine and a Fantic 200 for me and when it was over I realised just how good it had been. From there I prepared a Fantic 240 that has since then evolved and now I’m running two-day trials in Spain, Italy and France. I can assure you that I had never imagined that at my age I could continue to do so well competing in trials! But I am currently confident that I can do it without giving answers or having to prove anything to anyone. It makes you enjoy the competition so much more. From time to time we see you compete on a modern machine in some classic competitions. Do you not like modern trials motorcycles? Look, today’s modern trials motorcycles, as they are being manufactured right now, invite you to take unnecessary risks since, as I have said before, they are motorcycles designed for a high level of competition and rider. Is it not it the fault of marking the hazards?
It is these machines that lead you to mark the hazards the way they are marked. The machines are designed for high competition, and this leads you to mark more demanding hazards, that sometimes can even entail danger. For example, if Honda, Yamaha or Ducati sold the same motorcycles used by the MotoGP riders or Ferrari marketed a Vettel F1 car their sales would not be excessive. They are making motorcycles today that very few riders have sufficient ability to ride. Do you support any riders? Currently, we are focused on the classic trials, in which we have a good time. In this type of competition, you do not need to support anyone as we support each other. I think classic competitions and the areas we ride in are the future of trials. It is said that you do not get much riding time, but meanwhile, if you look at the 2018 Costa Brava Two Day Trial, it had around 500 participants. Someone has to realise that the trial offers plenty of riding time. I doubt that in other times there were trials with so many participants. IT shows that short riding time is in the modern trials!